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Phil Madsen's BlogLearning Something New Every Day |
Truck drivers Phil and Diane Madsen live, work and play on the road; transporting expedited and critical-shipment freight in their custom-built truck. Phil's blog is a blend of travelogue, brain dump and commentary on road-inspired topics.
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Blog entries are made so as not to reveal customer specifics or the current location of the truck when we are under load. Entries are updated to include location information after we leave the area. Blog author Top of page Bottom of page
Tuesday, June 1, 2010 I learned today a new mental trigger phrase, "Buy the time." Learned when the words came to mind as I drove today.
We woke up this morning near Charleston, South Carolina, near our 8:00 a.m. pickup. I woke feeling an urgency and determination I have not felt in a long time.
It was similar to feelings I had when, years ago, I walked onto the grounds of the U.S. Army Officer Candidate School at Fort Benning, Georgia. I was about to begin a tough course that only about 50 percent of the officer candidates complete. While I was confident that I would complete the course and thereby become a commissioned officer (I did), I also knew I was in for an ordeal. I walked in wide awake with my senses on high alert. I was eager to get started. I wanted to dive in and make it work.
Today's urgency and determination felt the same but were stimulated by having a new Florida house in our lives. (See my blog entries beginning May 14 for the story about how and why we bought it.)
This is not about financial pressure. We paid cash for the house and can handle the monthly expenses. The urgency and determination are about creating the time to use this vacation place as intended; namely, to relax and do my trading when we are off the road.
"Buy the time" is about being caught up on everything today, so when we arrive at the Florida house tomorrow, we will be free to do nothing. This house is not a place to drag work into. It is a place from which to keep work out so we can relax and enjoy our time there.
I woke up this morning feeling more committed than ever to running an efficient expediting business. "Buy the time" is a mental trigger phrase now used to get myself working on things that might be otherwise be put off.
• June is off to a good start. While we waited to pick up this morning's freight, we got pre-dispatched on our next load. That load picks up tomorrow morning and will keep us running overnight. We delivered today's load early this afternoon in North Carolina. We are now deadheading 150 miles toward tomorrow's pickup and will spend tonight nearby. Blog author Top of page Bottom of page
Wednesday, June 2, 2010 I learned today that Land Line magazine has published the piece I wrote for them several weeks ago. Learned by hearing about it from readers.
My copy of Land Line sits at home until we get there to review our low priority mail. People called and e-mailed me to say they had seen the piece.
Having just purchased a house in Florida, I feel awkward. The piece is entitled "Property free is the way to be — for us anyway." It's not a case of hypocrisy but one of bad timing. Lead times on pieces like this are several weeks. When I wrote it, I had no idea that we would be buying a house.
I had no plans to write anything at all for publication beyond this blog. The managing editor of the magazine contacted me out of the blue and asked me to write. Being a supportive OOIDA member I agreed. After buying the house I sent an e-mail to the editor saying she may want to pull the piece but she said it was too late.
Property-free is still important to Diane and me, but with the house purchase it is more about attitude than possessions. It is about not being attached to the property we own such that it owns us. It is about defining ourselves not by the goods we own but by the people we are.
• We woke up this morning in a retail area in Raleigh, North Carolina, drove a few miles to the pickup and picked up a 21 lbs. box going to Houston, Texas. The run will keep us rolling overnight. Blog author Top of page Bottom of page
Thursday, June 3, 2010 I learned today that there is a police detective in California who is an expediter wannabee and new blog reader. Learned by reading an e-mail from him.
You know from the primitive nature of this web site that I do very little to build a blog reading audience. There is no RSS feed or other social networking devices built into these pages. I write mostly for self expression. If others want to follow along, that's fine but it matters not to me if the audience numbers ten or ten thousand.
Yet it never ceases to amaze me how people come to read this blog and who they are. The detective said he "found" me after a number of years. He and his wife plan to do what Diane and I do now. He said he has a photo of our truck in his den that keeps him focused on that dream. A trucker wannabee, he joined OOIDA and receives Land Line magazine. My article in this month's issue enabled him to track me down.
• We drove overnight last night from Raleigh, North Carolina, to Houston, Texas, and delivered that load this morning. The 9:00 a.m. delivery was to a hospital that sits in a huge medical complex that spans several city blocks. Rush hour traffic, poor directions and parking challenges made the delivery more difficult than many but we got it done.
We next drove to a nearby FedEx center to pick up our mail. Knowing the day before we would be in Houston, we had our mail overnighted there. Then we went to a retail area to park and sleep.
A load offer woke and got us rolling again. We drove across town and picked up two skids (pallets) containing six 55 gal. drums of lubricant (not HAZMAT). They were Chicago-bound, so we were too. No security protocols were attached to this freight and extra time is built into the load. That means we will be able to stop the truck and sleep en route.
We manage our sleep well and we could drive the load straight through, but sleeping together in a non-moving truck is always better than sleeping and driving in shifts. Blog author Top of page Bottom of page
Friday, June 4, 2010 I learned today the name of a lawn sprinkler repairman. Learned by calling the office of the gated community in which our Florida house is located and asking for a name.
While trying to put our Florida house on automatic pilot, we must still pay some attention to it from afar. I believe our lawn sprinkler system is in good shape but want it checked anyway. A neighbor mentioned that one of the sprinklers is shooting water into her yard. That's not a crisis but wanting to make a good first impression in the neighborhood, I will have the sprinkler man check it out and reassure her. We are off to a great start with our new neighbors and I want to keep it that way.
• We drove overnight last night from Houston to a Chicago suburb, carrying a load of lubricating oil to a factory. Except for the scattered bouts of torrential downpours, the run was routine and relaxed. We had time to stop and sleep, get the truck washed and take showers on the way. The delivery was routine as well.
We got dispatched on our next run before the delivery. That load is another overnight run that picks up on Monday. It will be nice to have the weekend off. With the Florida house and the freight keeping us busy, no attention has been given recently to our expediting business books. That will be remedied this weekend. Blog author Top of page Bottom of page
Saturday, June 5, 2010 I learned today the brand name and style of patio furniture we like. Learned by seeing it in a store.
We woke up this morning in a retail area in a Chicago suburb, intending to do some business paperwork and truck maintenance. It turned into a day of rest instead. After a busy week of expediting and before that ten days of new house activity, a quiet day of doing nothing turned out to be more in order.
We spent most of the time in the truck reading, sleeping, random web surfing and talking with friends on the phone. At one point we wandered into a Menards store that was near the truck and looked at patio furniture with our Florida house in mind.
That's the highlight of this action-packed day, sitting in patio furniture in a store. Whoo Hoo!
That's one of the things I like about our simple trucking life. It's not like our old careers where days off were filled with other activities. In trucking, a day of rest can truly be a day of rest. Blog author Top of page Bottom of page
Sunday, June 6, 2010 I learned today that you can literally talk yourself into success. Learned by further developing that skill.
I woke early this morning, well before sunrise, and moved from the sleeper into the cab to do some brain work while Diane slept. The work today consisted of re-reading and thinking deeply about (meditating on) some of the concepts presented in the book The Winner's Brain by Jeff Brown and Mark Fenske.
A short term trading goal I have is to take and pass the Series 3 National Commodities Futures exam (reasons here). I must study the material to pass the test and find myself fighting it at times.
The material is boring. Studying it keeps me off the computer and trading screen which is more exciting because it is there that the action is and the trades are made. Putting time into exam studies tries my patience by seemingly pushing the accomplishment of another goal further away; that is, being a highly successful trader. At least that is what I have been telling myself as I study. It may not be true but it is true for me because I believe it.
Then come the other stories. The study material includes questions that require math to answer. They are not especially difficult but when you put a math problem in front of me, my history of math rebellion and the associated feelings kick in. At some point in my youth I decided that math was hard. From that point forward, I put only minimal effort into it and avoided it where I could. In college, I fulfilled my math requirement with a course named Math for the Arts. The opinion formed in my youth that math is hard became a self-fulfilling prophecy as opportunities to increase my math skills were intentionally bypassed. (You get more of what you think about.)
To this day, I feel an inner conflict with math. I know I should learn more of it but don't want to. I know I could learn to like it better if I got better at it but avoid it instead. The conflict prompts bad feelings that lead to even more bad feelings if I dwell on them.
The progress made today was made by changing my self talk about exam preparation and math. The change did not come directly from the brain book I was reading. It came from my brain as I pondered my dilemma. It came when the phrase "master trader" rose from within and resonated better than "highly successful trader."
This is a small change (substituting just one word for two) that made a big difference. It introduces mastery into trading where "highly successful trader" was mostly about financial results. Master traders are financially successful but they are much more as well. Master traders continually study. Master traders are patient. The math used in trading is not just something learned by master traders, it is learned and practiced to the point of becoming a subconscious competency that informs everything else the masters do.
When I envision myself as a highly successful trader, the above mentioned conflicts and negative emotions come into play. When I envision myself as a master trader, they simply fade away and I grow eager to further develop my trading knowledge and skills.
I learned today that you can literally talk yourself into success. The only thing that changed as I sat in our truck cab was my self talk about trading. I developed today a conversation that is better suited for achieving my trading goals.
Years of thinking that math is hard and something to be avoided have firmly entrenched those ideas deep in my brain. They will not disappear overnight but the new self talk gives me a way to fade their power and change how I feel when they rise on their own. When "math is hard" comes to mind, I'll consciously focus on "master trader" to quiet the unproductive words.
• Regarding expediting, today is a layover day in the Chicago area. We are dispatched to pick up a load tomorrow morning that will keep us running overnight.
We would stay in the retail area in which we woke up if the truck did not need a generator oil change and other minor maintenance, but it does so we will move 50 miles to the nearest truck stop. Diane will do laundry while I work on the truck. We will take showers in the building instead of cleaning up in the truck and then work together on business paperwork before returning to this area which is close to the pickup. With the freight running strong, we are driving the 50 miles out and back to use the needed truck stop facilities and keep ourselves run ready in the upcoming week. Blog author Top of page Bottom of page
Monday, June 7, 2010 I learned today more about trading. Learned by listening to podcasts about trading while I drove.
Diane and I woke up this morning at the TA truck stop in Hampshire, Illinois. We went there yesterday to do some truck work, laundry and showers, and ended up spending the night.
While we were there, Glen and Janice Rice came by in their new truck (pictured here). The Rices are good friends of ours who were in a terrible wreck a few years ago. Jan is able to ride but will never be able to drive a truck again. Glen drives now but only after a heroic effort to recover from his injuries enough to be able to drive again. Glen returned to driving by getting into a fleet owner's truck. They just recently purchased a truck of their own, a used Kenworth W-900 with a large custom sleeper. You will never meet two people who love trucking and life on the road more than the Rices.
• This morning's pickup went well. We are carrying one 21 lbs. box. The run takes us into Canada so future blog posts will be delayed until we return to the U.S. We stay off line when we are in Canada because roaming charges apply. Blog author Top of page Bottom of page
Tuesday, June 8, 2010 I learned today what the inside of an IKEA store looks like. Learned by going through one for the first time.
Diane and I woke up this morning at a loading dock in a Toronto, Ontario, Canada suburb and delivered our load (a 21 lbs. box) when the receiving department opened at 8:30. We then parked in an adjacent parking lot to wait for our next pickup. It was set for 5:00 p.m., 21 miles away. The weather was beautiful. It felt great letting the breeze blow through our open sleeper windows on this mostly sunny, mid-70's day.
Parking lot and building traffic picked up after noon and we moved toward the pickup so as not to be in the way. With an IKEA store near the pickup, room to park, a few hours to kill and a newly purchased house on our minds, it came naturally to wander into the store.
We bought nothing and were not overly impressed with the merchandise, but did gain a couple new home decorating ideas. I'm looking forward to returning to our Florida vacation house when the freight takes us close. I am eager to set up my office in the second bedroom. This will be my trading room. You only need a laptop computer with which to trade but a room with larger monitors and better seating will be more comfortable.
I said earlier that we would furnish the house with things we do not care about, purchased mostly from thrift shops. While that remains mostly true, our art collection (sounds more impressive than it is) will be moved from storage in Minnesota to our house in Florida. It is a collection of pieces we have picked up over the years. Rather than leave them packaged and stored in Minnesota, we will move them to the Florida house to enjoy there.
If a hurricane strikes and we lose everything, we will lose the art. It's a chance we are willing to take. We'd also lose it if the Minnesota house in which we rent space burnt down or was destroyed by a tornado. Better, we think, to hang it on the walls in Florida and see it when we are there than store it at home and never see it at all.
• The late-afternoon pickup went well and we are now on our way to the delivery, which is set for tomorrow afternoon. As with many of our loads, we will drive and sleep in shifts, keeping the truck moving non-stop overnight.
I'm writing this blog entry while Diane drives in Canada. We don't go online up here because of roaming charges. I'll post the blog tomorrow after we deliver this load. The delivery is in Minnesota, less than an hour from home.
Diane will drive until 2:00 to 3:00 a.m. when we'll switch. She'll become the snoozer and I'll become the driver. There will be two fuel stops along the way. Diane will do one tonight. I'll do the other tomorrow. Other than those and the border stop, we will keep the truck rolling on this straight-through load.
We are not pre-dispatched on another load. Our plan now is to go home after the delivery but that could change in an instant. The freight is running strong and we are not ones to break a streak if we can help it.
Going home would give us the chance to check the mail, shower and do laundry. Other than that, we have no reason to go. We prefer to haul freight now because we'll be going home in July for a week of dental work (crowns for both of us). We need to make some serious money so our dentist can pay for her summer vacation and buy nice presents for her children. Blog author Top of page Bottom of page
Wednesday, June 9, 2010 I learned today a way to enhance my online productivity. Learned by stumbling onto the technique.
We drove overnight from a Toronto, Ontario, Canada, suburb, where we picked up freight, to a Minneapolis, Minnesota, suburb where we delivered it. We do not go online when we are in Canada because roaming charges apply there. In the U.S. our wireless internet access is essentially unlimited.
As things occurred to me to do online, I stayed off line and instead added them to an internet to-do list. When we got back in the states, it was a new experience to go online in a planned fashion, starting with the most important items, taking each in turn, and focusing on one item at a time.
There is a whole lot of entertainment built into the web surfing experience and going online for entertainment is a legitimate activity. Keeping an internet to-do list and prioritizing the tasks helped me separate work from entertainment and get more done.
I talked earlier about another productivity enhancement; namely, staying off line until noon each day. That and an online to-do list provide a nice productivity boost.
Today's delivery put us less than an hour from home and we headed there after making a short stop at an office supply store. I wanted to see what kind of corner desks are available these days. This stop and yesterday's tour of an IKEA store helped me decide how I will set up my trading room in our Florida house.
The stop at home went as expected. We stayed in service and were dispatched to pick up a load tomorrow morning. That gave us time to service the truck toilet and water tanks, shower, eat a home-cooked meal, go through ten pounds of junk mail that had built up and get a good night's sleep in the truck. We did not sleep in the house because moving in and out for just one night was not worth the bother. We will roll on tomorrow's load before the morning rush hour. Blog author Top of page Bottom of page
Thursday, June 10, 2010 I learned today the latest information about a proposed change in a FINRA rule. Learned by researching it online while Diane drove.
FINRA is the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority, an entity that regulates the securities industry. The rule change relates to the trading I do. My mind is on trading today as we haul the freight we picked up this morning.
We will drive overnight and complete this 1,200 mile run with tomorrow's delivery. The shipper was delighted with how we secured her freight. Overcast skies are easy on the eyes. The truck is running well. Traffic is average except for the usual construction slowdowns. We have not yet had to stomp on the brakes or evade idiot drivers. Most of the scales are closed and the cops are leaving us alone. No one is dropping bricks off the bridges or shooting at trucks. The most recent company newsletter contains nothing of consequence. We are not carrying anything that cargo thieves would want. The Minnesota state legislature is not in session.
It's remarkable how enjoyable this job can be when people keep their distance and allow you to do your work. Blog author Top of page Bottom of page
Friday, June 11, 2010 I learned today more about the Wilmington, Delaware, area. Learned by exploring it.
I should say learned more about truck parking in the Wilmington, Delaware, area. We were not exploring for tourist reasons. We were looking for a place to spend the night.
As is true for most American cities, we have been here before. The first time you drive your truck into a city to spend the night, you have to find a place. You then tend to go with what you know and return to that same parking place when you go to the city again. Having time to spare, we looked around a bit just because we could.
The time to spare came because after we delivered at noon today, we were soon dispatched on a Monday pickup. That gives us the weekend off which we are glad to have, though "off" may not be the right word.
It will be a weekend in a non-moving truck. We thought about doing the tourist thing in Philadelphia but decided against it. While we would love to tour the town, time hauling freight and spent on our Florida house leaves us with expediting paperwork to do and mail to go through. I also want to put a good chunk of time into my trading studies.
• Someone recently asked about the freight rate experiment we are running. "Were" running is the better thing to say. Business has picked up. We no longer have to choose between running cheap freight or sitting still. There is good paying freight to be had and we have been busy hauling it. We did not run enough low pay loads in the experiment to do a good analysis. The question remains open. Where is the sweet spot between running too cheap and sitting too long? Thankfully, this is not the burning issue it once was. Blog author Top of page Bottom of page
Saturday, June 12, 2010 I learned today about a married couple in Michigan that is about to get into expediting because one of them has become unemployed, and about an early-60's couple in North Carolina who are doing the same thing also because of unemployment. Learned by reading my e-mail.
I regularly hear from people who are looking into expediting for various reasons. They find this blog as they do their online research and seem to like it.
I understand why. When Diane and I researched the business blogging had not yet been invented. There are today many trucker blog sites that trucker wannabees can read to gain a sense of the life. We did what research we could but would have really enjoyed a day-by-day report, like the one I provide here, that shares many of the details and feelings about the work.
Still, it gets spooky when I think about expediter wannabees reading this blog. My fear is that they will think what happens to us out here will happen to them too; and nothing could be further from the truth. That is because different people approach and react to different things in different ways. Among human beings, one person's experience is never the same as another's.
If you put two people side by side on an ocean beach to view a sunset; they will see, think and feel different things about it. One might be moved by the beauty of the changing colors in the sky. The other may be thinking mathematically about the energy the sun produces and the amount of time it takes to sink below the horizon.
If your truck gets painted with graffiti by vandals, one driver might think it a nuisance to file the insurance claim and repaint the truck, another may regard it as a personal attack and lash out at others with outrage and indignation for a week.
When a nice load offer is received but it goes to another truck, one driver may forget about it as soon as it happens, another may count it as the injustice straw that broke the camel's back and motivated him to change carriers.
If you have a $5,000 or even $10,000 revenue week (happens to us sometimes), one driver might take the next two weeks off, another may joyously bank the money and revel in earning more, yet another may head to the casino to piss the money away or go to the mall to buy gifts for the grandchildren.
Choices. Different people make different ones for different reasons. What you read here about what Diane and I do as expediters is not what you would do because you are not us. What you read here about how we feel about this or that is not how you would feel, because you are not us.
You may do the same things but your experience of them may be totally different. I love driving the truck on the open road at 2 a.m. For you, that very same activity may be your version of Hell. Diane and I would be happy as larks if we were seated in our lawn chairs in good weather in a quiet park for a full day. Others might go stir crazy and come to question if expediting was really for them.
People, including Diane and me, victimize themselves all the time with their own selective memories and wishful thinking. If you are an expediter wannabee reading this blog, beware of the human tendency to screen out the gloom and focus on the fun.
This blog contains both. By emphasizing certain aspects over others, you can use this blog to talk yourself into the industry or out of it. Before you commit to becoming an expediter, I suggest you read a couple months of this blog twice. Do it once to emphasize the positive. Then do it again to find the evidence you need to proves that expediting is not for you.
Understand that Diane and I are freaks. We don't have a TV in the truck. We feel fortunate when spending an uninterrupted night next to a dumpster behind a strip mall. We think a non-stop, 52 hour drive is a blessing. Home to us is more of a place to leave than to head toward.
If you become an expediter, you will be a freak too, but in your own freaky way. Blog author Top of page Bottom of page
Sunday, June 13, 2010 I learned today that I will not be taking the Series 3 National Commodities Futures exam as previously planned. Learned after working through all of the study material and making this decision.
I ordered the material and began studying for the exam in February. Having now gone fully through it, the next step would be to go through it again and again and again until I am producing perfect scores on the practice exams. Then go to a exam facility, sit down at one of their computers and pass the test.
The problem is, the study material and exam are designed for commodities professionals who operate in the futures markets. I am a currency trader (See: trading) which is something different.
When I finished the last page of the commodities exam study material this morning, I realized that I have achieved everything I wanted to achieve when I began; which was to add direction, depth and breadth to my trading studies. Additional study would enhance my understanding of the futures markets but would also take me down the wrong path since futures trading is not what I do.
There is a fair amount of overlap between futures trading and currency trading. In that regard, the study time has been beneficial and I am glad to have done it. However, book study kept me off the currency trading screens and I am eager to get back.
• We woke up this morning in a retail area on the East Coast where we are waiting to pick up a load on Monday. Monday's load picks up and delivers on the same day, and goes from one East Coast city to another.
The weather is less than ideal. It is hot and muggy, requiring us to run the generator and air conditioner all day and night. The alternative would be to sweat and stink while we are in the truck. Spending time out of the truck at a tourist attraction or library is another alternative. Depending on the site or activity, we might break sweat or not.
Expediters talk about blowing their showers. Showers are a budgeted item. To get a shower, you must pay in one form or another. You blow a shower when you take one and then do something to break sweat soon after.
For example, if I took a shower at a truck stop this morning and then discovered something on the truck that needed work, I would blow the shower by getting sweaty and dirty doing that work. If Diane took a shower this morning and then broke sweat by pushing a cart load of groceries from the store to the far side of the large lot where the truck is parked, she would blow her shower. If we took a shower in the morning and then broke sweat when picking up freight soon after, we would blow the shower.
It is hot and muggy where we are but it is even more so where our Florida vacation home is located. We don't blow showers there like we do on the road because at the Florida house the next shower is readily available. When you live in a house, it is easy to clean up. Sinks, showers and unlimited water are available. On the road, you budget your showers.
Even in a nice truck like ours that has a shower and water supply on board, we try to avoid blowing a shower. If we use the truck shower, we have to clean and dry it immediately after use to get the humidity out of the truck and prevent mildew. The water tanks would need to be replenished sooner than normal, which means an extra trip or stop. Extra trips or stops cut into your fuel economy so we try to avoid them.
Are you an expediter wannabee who wants a taste of the life? On your next day off work, start with a shower. Then go out and do something that gets you dirty, sweaty or both. Next, pretend you are on the road and put your house sinks, bathrooms and garden hoses off limits. To clean up, drive to a public bathroom and use the sinks there. Don't take your next shower at home. Rent a hotel room and use that shower. Or, if one is not closer, drive 50 to 100 miles to the nearest truck stop and pay $10 to take a shower there. Baby wipes are another option, as is using a bottle or two of water and a wash cloth.
Truckers get free showers at truck stops with fuel purchases, usually 50 gallons or more. Shower credits build on your fuel card so you can accumulate a supply with the fuel stops you make on long runs. The credits expire after a week or so, depending on the vendor. Use 'em or lose 'em.
Over the road (OTR) truckers get showers more often because they drive most days and generally park at truck stops. Expediters have the greater shower challenge since schedules and pickup an delivery locations vary greatly from one day to another.
Do you feel the need to shower every day? It can be done as an expediter but there is a price to pay. Blog author Top of page Bottom of page
Monday, June 14, 2010 I learned today of a possible truck-legal parking place in the Washington, D.C., area. Learned by seeing trucks parked there as we drove by.
"Trucks draw trucks" a mall security guard once told us. Where one parks, others will gather. That's because: (1) legal truck parking places are not easily found, especially on the East Coast; (2) trucks are everywhere, there are millions of them on the road; (3) truck drivers are not super-human, they need to rest; (4) trucks have a purpose and drivers have a job to do, they have to be out there to get your stuff to you; (5) drivers develop an eye for parked trucks because where one is parked, you may be able to park too.
We did not park at this new-found spot today but marked it as a favorite destination on our GPS device. Most people mark things like their homes, workplaces and relatives' addresses as favorite destinations. Truckers mark parking places in every state and city they serve.
• Today started out OK but changed for the worse. We woke up at a rest area in Maryland (a marked parking place on our GPS) and headed toward Washington to pick up the freight. We arrived over an hour early, intending to drive by the location to learn exactly where it was, and then eat lunch before going in to pick up the freight.
The shipper, standing outside to smoke a cigarette, saw us and flagged us down. We explained that we were early and that he should not bother with us yet. He was eager to load the freight and insisted that the early arrival was no problem. Had he not seen us, we would not have made contact until a few minutes before the scheduled pick up. Many of the customers we serve operate on very specific schedules. It was not an issue this time but sometimes an early arrival can be. We avoid such issues by arriving on time, not early.
We did not know and were not told what we were hauling. The load consisted of a few cardboard boxes on two skids (pallets). The description of the freight on the bill of lading was generic. That was fine with us. The description met legal requirements. The load was not HAZMAT. The freight was easily loaded and secured in the truck. On loads like this where security protocols apply, we do not need or want to know what we are hauling. Delivering the freight and making the money is enough for us.
The day went south when our happy, friendly, energetic and talkative shipper started talking about where and when he would meet us tomorrow to break the seal on our truck door and unload the freight. We were to drive to the delivery location and stay awake with the freight. He would fly overnight to the same city and meet us at the loading dock tomorrow.
The problem and surprise to us was that the load was dispatched to us and accepted as a straight through run. Our expectation was that we would drive the load non-stop from the pick up at 2:00 p.m. to the delivery at 10:00 p.m. tonight. We learned from the shipper, not from dispatch, that we were to stay awake with this freight and stay on the load overnight.
That is no small thing. We knew it was a stay-awake load but that was no big deal if it would be off our truck by 10:00 p.m. When the load became something significantly different than what was offered, the problem rose. This is not the load that we agreed to, and now, in the interest if customer service, it is a load we were stuck on. We would not have accepted the load had we known of the requirement to stay with it overnight where it was going.
No other trucks were available on such short notice to do this load. We were trapped. Feeling cheated and outraged, the last thing we wanted to do was take a load that requires twice the time for the same amount of money and requires us to stay awake with the freight in an area we absolutely hate to go (New York City). But with a cheerful customer standing right in front of us, fully and correctly expecting that freight would be delivered as he set it up when he called in the order, what are you going to do?
We had the option of refusing to load the freight. The agent we were talking to in the heated exchange (by phone, away from the customer) said she would "write us up" and charge us with a service failure if we refused to pick up the freight. That was a secondary issue to me. I raised the option of refusing the freight with the agent more to see what she would say than anything else. I also wanted to make the point that agents should not so easily expect us to cover for their blunders.
Realistically, we knew we had a customer expectation to fulfill. The shipper did everything right. We did everything right. It was dispatch that failed to tell us the full story. We were not not going to penalize a customer because our carrier failed us.
The outrage rose not because of the miscommunication but because dispatch was unwilling to acknowledge the failure or adjust our pay beyond a token amount. It sat just fine with them to brush aside the error as if it never happened and to pretend that it made no difference at all that two drivers would spend the night in a place they hate when they were first told and had good reason to expect that they would be able to drive quickly away after making a straight-through delivery.
It did not even count as an issue to the agent and her supervisor that spending unexpected time on this load means we lose the ability to be dispatched on other loads. Had we known this load would tie the truck and us up overnight and well into tomorrow, we would not have accepted it for the money offered. The negative impact this development would have on our revenue was meaningless to them. Their sole purpose was to cover the load.
Dispatch claimed the information was sent to our truck's Qualcomm unit. We know for a fact it was never received. We looked at our Qualcomm unit very carefully to verify that we had not missed it. Other messages were received in the time frame in question. The unit functioned perfectly the whole time. We were even offered new loads that came after the 10:00 p.m. delivery time our information said we had. The claim that the delivery of this load had been confirmed, the delivery time had been bumped to the next day and the information had been sent to us did not fly.
We were stuck. The agent clicked loudly her keyboard and claimed her screen showed the info was sent. We knew it had not been received. Was she covering for the fact that she never did confirm the load as she or another agent was supposed to? Was she lying about what her computer screen said? We are at a disadvantage in situations like these since we cannot see that screen and no one at the company would ever permit us to look if we later went in and demanded to pull the records to learn exactly what that screen really said.
This is how carriers lose good drivers. We might do 25 or even 50 loads without a dispatch incident but failures like this one linger in mind. The people who screwed up will sleep happily in their beds at home tonight, while we stay awake in a place we hate to baby sit freight we would not have hauled had we known the full story.
Did I mention that we hate driving a truck in and around New York City? I would rather spend a night in prison.
This incident illustrates how attitude is everything in this business. We have the whole night to dwell on this while we sit in a place we hate and did not agree to stay at when we accepted the load. (New York City is a fantastic city to visit and maybe even to live in, but it is no place to drive a truck. It is not much of a place to drive a car. The people are cool. They are fun to get to know. The city itself is amazing. I love New York as a tourist but hate it as a truck driver.)
Thoughts precede feelings. Wise expediters consciously decide what they think about something and how they will feel about it before letting their feelings run.
We have been cheated and feel outraged because of it, but we are not going to do anything stupid. That fuels even more outrage because dispatch finds it so very easy to paper over their failure by taking full advantage of Diane's and my customer service ethic and stick us in New York overnight.
Successful expediters manage their time, sleep, truck maintenance and money. They manage their emotions too, and sometimes, that is the most difficult task of all.
As I re-read this before posting it, I give myself a C minus grade in handling this incident. I am doing a good job of managing my emotions and finding more productive things to do (trading) as I sit in this undesired place with undesired freight. The customer is being well served and his expectations are being fully met (that's a FedEx Purple Promise thing).
The low grade comes from letting my emotions run when I hit the brick wall the agent and her supervisor threw up when I called. The agent could have done a better emotional-management job too, but I'm not responsible for her emotions. I'm responsible for mine. Blog author Top of page Bottom of page
Tuesday, June 15, 2010 I learned today nothing new. I probably did learn something new but have not made note of it.
We completed our New York load mid-day today and headed immediately to Baltimore, Maryland to pick up our next load. That load will keep us running overnight.
The bed is down. The sleeper windows are blacked out. If I'm not driving, I'm sleeping. Diane and I will be in drive-sleep mode at least through late Wednesday afternoon when we deliver the freight that is now on our truck.
When we are both awake, we talk about the work; the weather at our destination, confirmed delivery times, messages sent to and received from dispatch, road conditions, noteworthy items heard on the radio news broadcasts, location of our next fuel stop, and other such things.
At shift change, we make eye contact as we pass each other on the way from the driver's seat to the sleeper. That to verify that everything is OK. We can communicate more in an instant of eye contact than if we wrote 10,000 words to describe what is going on. Blog author Top of page Bottom of page
Wednesday, June 16, 2010 I learned today what a different kind of rumble strip sounds like. Learned by driving over it to find out how it sounds.
Diane and I continue in drive-sleep mode. We delivered this afternoon a load to Kansas City, Missouri, that we picked up yesterday in Baltimore, Maryland. We are heading now toward tomorrow's pick up in Kansas.
On the way, I noticed that the rumble strip on the highway shoulder had a pattern different than most I have seen. To get a feel for the beat it would produce, I put our curb side tires on it and rolled along. With that rumble strip's beat then in my head, I thought a tune might rise out of my brain that I could enjoy for the next few miles and perhaps longer. There would be no tune today. Sometimes the creative process kicks in and sometimes it doesn't. Today it didn't.
You can hear lots of music if you listen for it. The truck engine hums. The tires sing. The rumble strip wakes when tires roll over. The wind blends with the road crack beat.
Every road has a song of its own.
It's music to ears when driving alone.
Listen tonight past the engine's roar.
Hear sounds of the road like never before.
Blog author Top of page Bottom of page
Thursday, June 17, 2010 No blog entry today.
Friday, June 18, 2010 
I learned today that the gold bars in Fort Knox, Kentucky are fake. Learned by reading claims to that effect on the internet. (It's on the internet so you know it has to be true.)
Fort Knox is of interest to Diane and me today because we are nearby. It's Friday and it looks like we might end up spending the weekend in the area.
We arrived at our delivery location a little before midnight last night. The delivery was set for 8:00 this morning. The door sign on the driver's entrance of this huge warehouse said the receiving department opened at 7:00 a.m.
That looked great to us. Seven or 8:00, it did not matter. We parked the truck not at the dock but against a solid wall, such that the back door could not be accessed. This was not a security load but force of habit compelled us to park that way.
We did not bump a dock because several businesses shared this warehouse facility. We knew we had the right driver's entrance but the docks were not marked. We did not know what docks belonged to who on either side of the driver's entrance. Safer for the freight, we thought, to park against a wall instead of a dock.
We set our cell phone alarm clocks for 6:30 a.m. and settled in for a quiet night's sleep. The warehouse was closed. We were parked behind it, far away from any street. There was no traffic. There was not even a barking dog in the neighborhood of houses we could see through the fence across the lot from where we were parked.
The weather was on the border, so to speak. It had been a warm, humid day but was cooler now. Not wanting to run the generator to power the sleeper air conditioning, we opened the sleeper windows and ran the ceiling fan. That almost worked. About 3:00 a.m. I got up to close the windows and run the AC.
At 6:00 a.m. we were jolted out of a sound sleep by a loud knock on the door. I went forward to see a worker standing by the cab. He wanted to know if we were picking up or delivering. Delivering, I said. "Door 122, come on in when you're ready" he said, and then walked off.
With two hours to go to our scheduled delivery time we thought about going back to bed. Then Diane saw the man standing in the now open dock door 122 looking at our truck. It seemed that "when you are ready" really meant, "Come on, driver, there's work to do! Let's get to it!"
I moved the truck to the dock and went inside. Nothing had changed in the parking lot. We were the only truck there. The man was alone in this vast warehouse, eager to get to work, it seemed, because there was nothing else for him to do. A lot of workers would have enjoyed the quiet time on the clock. Not this guy, he was a worker and it was our misfortune to be the only thing in sight having work needing to be done.
We chatted some while he and I unloaded the freight. Having once been a trucker himself, he thought he was doing us a favor by unloading our truck early. He was not wrong but was not entirely right either. It did not matter. We got the freight off the truck, completed the paperwork and Diane and I then headed to a nearby truck stop to go back to sleep.
• We woke from our morning nap with no freight to haul and a very hot weekend forecast for the Louisville area. There is still a chance that we will get dispatched to roll with freight today. A load to a mountain town in the Rockies or Catskills would be nice about now. Alaska would work too.
Update: We won't be going to Alaska this weekend or anywhere else for that matter. We accepted an offered load that picks up on Monday and keeps us in the Midwest. That gives us the weekend off and we are heading to an RV park in Kentucky.
RV parks have shore power, which means we can plug the truck in and avoid using the generator to run the sleeper AC. They also have showers, laundry and safe truck parking. It will be a quiet weekend which we will use to rest, do business paperwork and trading. If we get ambitious, we might drive into town for some entertainment or to take in a local tourist attraction.
We stopped at a grocery store to pick up some steaks. Our next stop is a truck wash so we can enjoy a clean truck while at the park. Then we are off to camp (at least that's what the RV people call it). I presume we will have internet access when we are there. If you don't see me posting over the weekend, lack of internet access would be the reason why. Blog author Top of page Bottom of page
Saturday, June 19, 2010 I learned today about horse apple trees. Learned by sitting under the shade of one for a good part of the day and then talking to someone who knew what kind of tree it was.
When you are sitting in the shade at a nice RV park and have time on your hands, contemplating trees comes naturally. The tree Diane and I sat under today was particularly interesting because it had a fruit growing on it that neither of us had seen before.
In a fashion appropriate to our camp setting, we looked it over, talked it over, thought it over and then took a nap. After waking, we found other ways to fill our day with nothing of importance. It's called resting and we have gotten quite good at it since taking up life on the road.
This RV park is well suited for the task. We know expediters are sometimes laid over in the Louisville area. I don't usually mention the RV parks we stay at by name but will this time because it is perfect for us. It's not so fancy that you have to wear a dinner jacket to the club house and not so primitive to be uncomfortable. The staff is friendly. The grounds are clean and very well kept. Best of all, for us at least, it is quiet. There is no road noise here. It's the Rolling Hills Camping Resort in Taylorsville, Kentucky. Click the link to visit their web site.
Diane and I are here to rest but if entertainment is what you seek, consider this. We left two expediter trucks similar to ours behind in the truck stop on Friday. We did not talk to the drivers but presume they are laid over like us and will spend the weekend there. They will run their generators all weekend to beat the heat, enjoy all the sights, smells and companionship a truck stop has to offer, and then go back to work hauling freight on Monday.
The weekend could become one that would be remembered for life if these two teams got together, rented a car for the weekend, drove their trucks and the car to this campground, used the swimming pools, showers and laundry here, and, leaving your trucks parked in a safe place, use the car to drive to Churchill Downs in Louisville to have a day and night of fun there.
Such is the expediting life; as peaceful and fun as one chooses to make it. Blog author Top of page Bottom of page
Sunday, June 20, 2010 I learned today that one of the greatest assets an expediter has, if not the greatest asset, is time to think. Learned as that thought came to me while thinking.
Diane and I woke up this morning in the Rolling Hills Camping Resort in Taylorsville, Kentucky, where we are laying over until we will pick up freight on Monday. As I sat outside in beautiful morning weather, reading a trading book, I started feeling grateful for this time.
Expediting is a mind game and trading is even more so. What you think matters. How you think matters even more. Taking time to think about what and how you think can help you better produce the results you desire. Having the time to think about what and how you think is a blessing expediters enjoy.
Look at Diane and me right now. We delivered a load on Thursday and will pick up the next one on Monday. The time in between is time to think. We often spend hours upon hours driving on the open road where traffic is light and the mind is free. Driving requires your attention, of course, so deep meditation is out. But you do have time to think when you drive, time people in many other professions would envy.
What do you do with your brain in this time? Do you turn your brain off by turning the TV on? Do you let it wander from one pleasant daydream to the next? Do you construct and run fantasies that feature you as the star? Do you intentionally recall episodes that made you angry, like a time you felt cheated, and feel the rage over and over again as you repeatedly play the tape? Do you mentally rehearse how you will react to a deer in the road or a steer tire blowout? Do you use your brain to read a story that carries you away from yourself? Do you occupy your brain by playing a tune in your head? Do you do knit while thinking about something else? Do you refine your version of success by imagining every detail? Do you call up your vision of Jesus and let the spirit flow? Do you focus on news of victims and feel sorry for them?
There are many things you can do with your brain when you have time on your hands. What do you do with yours? You get more of what you think about. Choose your thoughts well.
In addition to books on trading, I have also been reading The Winner's Brain by Jeff Brown and Mark Fenske. I have been thinking about how I think and learning how to better use my brain.
It's a glorious day in Kentucky today ... because I think it so. Blog author Top of page Bottom of page
Monday, June 21, 2010 I learned today more about trading (this page recently updated). Learned by trading.
• I spoke yesterday about the thinking I did. A good portion of it was about trading. I shortened the trading page I have on this web site from dozens of paragraphs to just five. It is self explanatory if you care to read it.
• Diane and I woke up this morning in the Kentucky RV park where we stayed over the weekend. We will pick up freight later today and deliver it late tonight or tomorrow morning if the delivery bumps to then. Whether it bumps or not depends on the consignee. If someone is there to accept delivery, we will deliver. If not, we will deliver when they open tomorrow morning.
• Last week was a good money week and we are tracking a good month so far. This week is starting off slow with today's short run but we are not too concerned as the freight has been running strong. This weekend in an RV park was both restful and productive. We are ready to rock and roll from now to mid-July when we have to go home for dental appointments. Blog author Top of page Bottom of page
Tuesday, June 22, 2010 I learned today that pigeons like popcorn better than bread. Learned by observing their response when given the choice.
• As we pulled up to the gate in Ohio around midnight last night to deliver the load we picked up yesterday afternoon, we were thinking about where we would go next to settle in for the night and wait for freight. Then came a load offer to pick up freight in Alabama, 500 miles away, and haul it to California. We headed toward Alabama immediately after the delivery.
This is where good sleep management comes into play. I had slept some on the way to Ohio and slept more as Diane drove toward Alabama. We had several hours to spare before today's afternoon pickup so we stopped to sleep along the way. Even though we had been awake in the day and asleep at night during our weekend RV park stay, we got into our customary drive-sleep mode with little trouble.
Sleep management is a skill expediters develop. Different teams manage their sleep in different ways. It took about 30 days in the business to figure out what worked best for us. We went out of service and declined some loads while we were figuring it out. Then very young in the business, we were pleased to see everyone — our fleet owner, carrier and colleagues — say we were doing the right thing. It is better to sleep than to drive tired.
There is a lot of talk in the trucking industry about drivers who feel forced to run an illegal log book and drive more hours than are safe. That ethic does not exist in expediting. Among expediters, if you drive while you are tired, you are looked upon as a fool.
• My pigeon lesson came when we parked in a retail area to re-supply the truck and take a nap. We were near the pickup but still had some time to spare. Diane went into the store. I got the sleeper ready for a nap; "secure for sleeping" as we say.
Someone had thrown a couple opened packages of buns into the lot and a few dozen pigeons were happily pecking away. Life is good for pigeons in this Wal-Mart parking lot, I concluded. If they ate much more, they would be too fat to fly.
An elderly couple drove their car near the flock. The wife slowed as the husband leaned out the passenger window and dumped a full bag of popcorn onto the ground. The pigeons all abandoned the bread and headed immediately for the popcorn. I thought they might be drawn to the new item over the old but they stayed with the popcorn until it was gone. Popcorn was clearly the item of choice.
• It occurred to me that a writer could find a lot of material in a Walmart parking lot. There was a lot of bread in the parking lot, more than the already-fat pigeons could eat in a short time. Yet they kept eating and eating and eating. If a tiny sparrow landed and went to work on the crumbs that could be found away from the main group of pigeons, several pigeons would immediately head for those crumbs and drive the sparrow off.
I thought of Congress. I thought of Wall Street. I thought of the natural way of existence in which life eats life to survive. I thought about how quick-moving sparrows still get their crumbs. I thought about a children's story based on these themes.
It would take some time but a book of parking lot short stories would be easy to develop. The birds have a story. A story could be written about what goes through the store manager's mind when he does a ten-second scan of the lot. There is a story about the woman who signs a petition for better government on her way into the store and then dumps her trash on the ground before driving away. There is the story about the two security guards, each on a shift patrolling the lot in that car with the amber flashing light on top. One spends his time thinking about how he hates his life. The other revels in the job keeping the people and property safe.
A story could be written that reports the conversation had by the ten store workers on break late in the night, as they stand in the lot smoking their cigarettes. Maybe one of them would one day steal my book from the store and read the justice story about the pigeons and the sparrows to his children.
And of course, there is the story about the two expediters who spend a couple hours in the lot while getting ready for a trip to California. That parking lot story ended when Diane and I left to pick up freight.
It was a small wooden crate, weighing 125 lbs. The pick up was routine and we were soon rolling under load; driving west to a delivery that was two sunsets away. Blog author Top of page Bottom of page
Wednesday, June 23, 2010 I learned today about an air-ride equipped expediter van. Learned by seeing it and talking to its owner.
Expediters drive big rigs (18 wheelers), straight trucks and cargo vans. I know a little about straight trucks, less about big rigs and nothing about vans. I see expediter vans on the road every day but seldom talk to the drivers. At truck stops, vans and bigger trucks park on opposite sides of the building. Diane and I just don't run into van drivers like we do drivers of bigger trucks.
Today was an exception. While on a cross-country run from Alabama to California, we stopped at the TA in Amarillo, Texas, for fuel and showers. On my way into the building a van with an ExpeditersOnline bumper sticker caught my eye, as did the van's stance. Its suspension seemed different than most.
The driver saw me taking photos of his rig and we chatted just long enough for me to explain that I did not have time to talk, and just long enough for him to tell me his van has an air-ride suspension. Then I was on my way.
The van sighting was pretty much the highlight of the day. Oops. Check that. The highlight of the day was that we and our freight traveled safely the clock around. The interesting part of the day was the van, and also the wildfire we saw burning around Flagstaff, Arizona, as we drove through.
Wildfires are not the big deal they once were to us. We've seen them several times in Arizona, California and Nevada. This one was not close to the road. It made the national news but was to us just another part of the day. Blog author Top of page Bottom of page
Thursday, June 24, 2010 I learned today about a singing road. Learned by receiving an e-mail from a blog reader that included a link to this YouTube video.
He sent me this link after reading my road-song blog post (June 16). I got a huge kick out of the video and played it several times. Thank you, John, for sharing the link.
• Diane and I drove overnight and arrived at our California delivery location several hours ahead of the delivery time. This was a security load where one of us is required to stay awake with the freight. Delivery was impossible when we arrived since the business was closed until 9:00 a.m. local time.
When we arrived shortly after midnight, it was Diane's time to sleep and mine to be awake. That gave me the pleasure of bumping the loading dock of one building and staring for several hours at the loading dock of another building across the parking lot. I stayed awake in the cab as our security protocols require and also used the time for trading. We have a laptop desk that sits nicely on the steering wheel. I can adjust the steering wheel, air-ride driver's seat and arm rests just so and sit comfortably with my computer for hours.
The business opened at 9:00. We delivered the freight, drove to a nearby IHOP for breakfast, and then parked in a grocery store parking lot to resupply the truck and take a nap.
We were surprised to not get dispatched on another load. With freight moving like it is, we expected to be rolling again. No such luck today, so as the sun began to set, we drove 25 miles to a parking place we have used before to spend the night. Note that the Los Angeles metropolitan area is 100 miles across. A 25 mile drive does not get you even half way across town. There is a truck stop about 25 miles the other way but we avoid truck stops whenever we can. Blog author Top of page Bottom of page
Friday, June 25, 2010 I learned today that you can spend thousands of dollars on several premium patio furniture brands but it is so uncomfortable that you would not want to sit on it for long. Learned by touring a high-end patio furniture store.
Diane and I woke up this morning in a retail area in the Los Angeles, California, area after delivering freight here on Thursday. We stayed in the truck most of the morning thinking that we might be dispatched on a load that picks up immediately and runs over the weekend.
That did not happen. We ended up accepting a load offer around noon for freight that picks up on Monday. The minute we were put on that load, we could let down our guard. Now we knew what our schedule was. Now we knew what we were free to do.
Diane had taken a walk in the morning and spotted the patio furniture store. When we knew we'd have time, she took me to it. It seemed strange to be shopping for furniture in California that would go in our Florida vacation home but that's what we did.
It turned out that there would be no logistical problem. The problem was not that the furniture was over-priced (though it was). The problem was the stuff was awful to sit on. I know furniture companies put at least some thought into comfort but they seem to have missed the boat this time.
The store featured patio furniture from several manufactures. Much of it was beautiful. Some of it was artistic to the point of being weird. All of it was visually striking in its own way. So how did the manufacturers miss the boat? The designers seem to have forgotten that people don't sit on their eyes. Blog author Top of page Bottom of page
Saturday, June 26, 2010 I learned today that there are flying dragons in California. Learned when I saw one.
Really! I got a photo. Check it out. It's a genuine flying dragon (kite).
It's one of many colorful kites Diane and I saw today at the beach. The Bolsa Chica state beach is a familiar place to us. We sometimes come to this ocean beach if we are laid over in the Los Angeles area. Truck parking is permitted here.
The cost is $15 per day per vehicle (of any kind, 40 feet or under, up to nine occupants). It was $10 last time we were here but California is a fiscal disaster. We were not surprised to see the 50% price increase. The increase does not seem to have affected attendance. People have been lined up all day long to pay to drive in and park by the sea on this beautiful summer Saturday.
We got here early this morning. At the moment, I'm sitting in the truck sleeper. The windows are open. The sea breeze is blowing through. I'm writing today's blog entry with the beach sand and ocean just outside our windshield. We have walked the three-mile beach and cooked food outdoors. We'll stay until the park closes tonight at 10:00 p.m.
We are laid over in the Los Angeles area for the weekend and are scheduled to pick up freight Monday morning. Blog author Top of page Bottom of page
Sunday, June 27, 2010 I learned today that Laguna Beach, California, is a vacation destination that Diane and I would enjoy. Learned by looking the city over as we drove through.
We woke up this morning in a retail area in the Los Angeles, California area, where we are laid over waiting to pick up freight on Monday. The pickup is near San Diego. Wanting to spend tonight closer to the freight and having time for a pleasure drive, we decided to take not I-5 but the more scenic Pacific Coast Highway (CA-1). That took us through Laguna Beach and were positively impressed, especially by the many art galleries.
We would have a great time staying nearby in an RV park or hotel, renting a car to get into town, and spending several days touring the galleries and shops of Laguna Beach.
This town smacks of chic. It sits on the beach. The streets are lined with flowers. If you don't look right sitting on the sidewalk, three cops in squad cars with flashing lights will give you their full attention. A trucker town Laguna Beach is not, but a fun place to visit and shop, we think it may be.
It's funny (or sad) how that works. If we put on a $40 T-shirt, blue jeans and $100 shoes, they will welcome us with open arms and provide free parking for a rented car. If we show up in our truck wearing our carrier's uniform, they will look down on us as lower-class people and tell us we can't park anywhere, even if space is available, except to pick up or deliver freight.
Diane and I are the same two people now matter how we are dressed but get looked down upon by many if we show up as truckers.
Early in our expediting career we made a delivery to a museum in Pennsylvania. A man in a suit parked in the loading zone where we were working. I explained how he was in the way of the big project that was about to take place and asked him, politely, to move. He did not like it a bit and gave me a hard time, but he moved as he saw the work begin.
It turned out that he was the museum's director of development (the fund raising guy). I laughed when I learned who he was. A few short months before he met us as truckers, he would have invited us to dinner in a high-end restaurant and kissed our asses because of the positions we then held. But in a museum parking lot, he is the one who wants to be all important, park where others are not allowed, and puke all over the truckers who are trying to do their work.
If you happen to be a manager or higher-up at a company, here is an idea for you. Identify the truck drivers who come regularly to your building, make it a point to meet them and say, "Thank you for the work you do every day. Without the goods you haul in and out of here, our business would shut down. I want you to know that we appreciate the important work you do and the safe way you do it." Because it happens so seldom, you will be remembered for life by the trucker you thank. Blog author Top of page Bottom of page
Monday, June 28, 2010 I learned today...
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Tuesday, June 29, 2010 I learned today...
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Wednesday, June 30, 2010 I learned today the dangers of craigslist.org. Learned by seeing how Diane and I became obsessed with it and I fell behind in my blog.
June's trip map is below. Other trip maps can be seen here. Blog author Top of page Bottom of page
Blog entries are made so as not to reveal customer specifics or the current location of the truck when we are under load. Entries are updated to include location information after we leave the area. Blog author Top of page Bottom of page